What do you guys use for painting during one of your restorations? I do not have the high-tech painting equipment or the skills to go along with them that some of you here seem to have based on what I've seen for photos.

Currently, I have been using a regular Wagner power painter (airless) to paint implements etc. around my farm. It works OK for that other than when it gets low on paint it tends to sputter which really sucks.

Since I am looking to do a resto on the MF 10 I am picking up, I think I'd like to try something a little better. When I did cub cadet restos years ago my buddy painted the bigger parts with his HVLP(?) system for me and I did a lot of it with spray cans.

If you're going to use a pneumatic spray gun, a decent air compressor is a must. The necessary accouterments can get expensive too. As long as you use a good quality primer and paint, and take great care in your surface prep, spray cans work very well. However, if you plan on doing any amount of painting beyond this one project, the air equipment might pay for itself in the long run, as quality spray cans get expensive pretty quick too. Just my $.02. Hope it helps.

I usually use the same equipment, and same automotive paint as when I am doing a car.It all depends on what you want the end product to look like,but if you want a quality finish then you need quality paint and supplies.
And that would be my two cents.

I usually use the same equipment, and same automotive paint as when I am doing a car.It all depends on what you want the end product to look like,but if you want a quality finish then you need quality paint and supplies.And that would be my two cents.

not to mention it lasts 20x longer than wet paint and although you do make a good point about not being a true to the time resto ,,you win points by using an organic finish with none of the harmful VOC's that enamels ,hardeners ,reducers and other types of nasty wet paint have not to mention the clean up and at the sametime giving new life to old metal -saving a tractor and the enviroment --you may find yourself around 3-400 in materials to do this right ,most of the john deeres I have done with a working class finish start around 450ishand I own a mf14 and the price for a working class finish on that would be around 4-5 depending on colors chosen

This was painted with a spray gun using Tremcald rust paint, Blue and White no primer.
Not a high quality paint job by any means and it fades quicker than other paints if left out in the sun. But it's cheap and looks good when new, and will last if you keep it out of the sun.

not to mention it lasts 20x longer than wet paint and although you do make a good point about not being a true to the time resto ,,you win points by using an organic finish with none of the harmful VOC's that enamels ,hardeners ,reducers and other types of nasty wet paint have not to mention the clean up and at the sametime giving new life to old metal -saving a tractor and the enviroment --you may find yourself around 3-400 in materials to do this right ,most of the john deeres I have done with a working class finish start around 450ishand I own a mf14 and the price for a working class finish on that would be around 4-5 depending on colors chosen

That's an interesting statement regarding the claim of lasting 20 X longer. I'd be interested in seeing some documentation to back up your claim. I've seen quite a few powder coated products that have had paint flake off and rust show through in less than 2 years. About a month back, there was a guy moaning about paint loss on the deck of his brand new Cub Cadet. It was coming off in large chunks. As such, I don't have as much faith in powder coating as you do. No matter what type of paint process you do, it's only as good as the prep work carried out.

Powder coating came into its own due to environmental demands mandated by the US government. For the person restoring a tractor, it's certainly not a cheap alternative to spray. Aside from the issue of "correctness", I don't see powder coating as having any real advantages for the person who restores tractors. Once a tractor has been totally restored, it doesn't see very much exposure to the elements compared to when it was bought new.